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Since introducing its new marketplace in March, Hudson’s Bay has been adding partners left and right—from Poppy Barley to Forever 21 to Epicure Linen. One new name: Pure Culture Beauty.
The personalized beauty startup, which debuted in September, decided to team up with the Canadian department store earlier this month for its first retail partnership. Cofounders Joy Chen and Victor Casale told Retail Brew why.
“Customization is still relatively new when it comes to retail activation,” Chen said. “We really wanted a partner that actually had a little bit of a high touch point, and we believed that the brick and mortar aspect of Hudson’s Bay is going to be important, as well as online.”
- Pure Culture Beauty’s products are featured in the marketplace, though customers are directed to its own website to complete their skincare tests.
- Pop-up shops inside Hudson’s Bay stores are planned for the fall.
Let’s get physical: Chen added that partnering with Hudson’s Bay was appealing, since Canada isn’t “as daunting a market as other markets,” plus, that IRL space is important.
- The pop-ups are a chance to learn how to best explain the customization process to customers, as opposed to just letting them pull products off a shelf.
- Pure Culture Beauty said they’ll also learn whether a permanent location inside Hudson’s Bay will be viable in the future.
A new era
Hudson’s Bay's marketplace is a bid to attract new customers, as it ventures into categories it never offered before—at a faster pace than wholesale (though that means less of the profits per sale).
- Hudson’s Bay President and CEO Iain Nairn told WWD it gives brands access to a portal with “a template on how to load their products on the site...they could get a whole page, and can also choose to be featured in certain places or with headers.”
- Hudson’s Bay's goal is to have 1,000+ brands by the end of the year.
“There's a lot of retailers out there that just want to sign you up and sell your product for as little effort as possible. Whereas [Hudson’s Bay] actually gets us support,” Casale said.—KM